Chapter 36
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Lazy Afternoons]
It was morning at U.A. High, roughly ten minutes before Homeroom was about to start. Sora was walking to 1-A's classroom with his friends, Izuku and Ochako. Although the Keyblade wielder and Midoriya recently had a very serious talk with All Might yesterday, their spirits were still very much high. It also helped that they were in the company of Uraraka, who almost always had a positive aura around her.
As the three were almost at their destination, the three were stopped when they heard a familiar voice call out to one of them. "Excuse me, Sora." It called out.
The three kids turned around and saw that Principal Nezu was coming out of the nearby teacher's lounge. The Keyblade wielder was the first to respond. "Uh, Hi Principal Nezu. What do you need?" He asked, unsure of what he was wanted for. Nezu requested that Izuku and Ochako go on ahead to the classroom, while the two had their discussion and the 1-A students obliged.
"Do you remember that project that you wanted to help out with after the internships?" Nezu reminded the boy. Sora nodded and then the principal continued. "Well we're about to be finished with the testing phase, and I was curious if you were still interested in helping with the project."
"Oh yeah." Sora remembered. "I completely forgot about that. I can help out with that after school today."
"Actually, Moogle and I were planning on allowing you to help us tomorrow, after we check and make sure everything works as intended." Nezu explained. "It will also give you a day to relax, considering everything that has happened recently."
"Oh. Well, sure." Sora accepted. "I can do that. Oh, but I still would like to do something after school today that I need your permission to do."
"Oh? And what might that be?" Nezu pondered.
"Ok. So I recently got a new Keyblade. Two Become One." Sora stated. "Well, I haven't used that Keyblade in a while, and even though I've had Oblivion for almost the entire time I've 'developed my Quirk' there were still some things that I recently discovered that I could do with it."
"I see where this is going." The principal said. "You'd like for me to schedule a training session for you so you can see what your newly reacquired weapon is capable of."
"If that isn't too much trouble." The Keyblade wielder replied. While Sora has used Two Become One in the past, he barely had time to use it back at The World That Never Was. He really only understood that it gave him a significant chance for him to change into his Final Drive Form back then. However, the Drive Forms were linked towards his older attire and not his new gear. On top of that, his current Keyblades, Oblivion and the Kingdom Key, as well as other Keyblades like Oathkeeper, had different properties when he changed his attire. So Two Become One could basically be a completely different weapon, depending on what happens when Sora tries to execute a Formchange with it. And considering that this is a school that trains future Heroes, what better place to test its capabilities.
"Quite the contrary actually." Nezu responded. "It would be no trouble at all for you to reacquaint yourself with your equipment. Especially since it will prove to be advantageous for you in the future."
Sora smiled and said "Thank you."
"You're quite welcome." Nezu stated. "Now you might want to get to class soon. Homeroom will start in a few minutes."
"Oh. Right. Got it." Sora realized that this talk lasted a bit longer than expected, so he picked up the pace so as to not be late for class. "Thanks again Nezu." the boy called out.
"You're welcome, and thank you as well Sora." Nezu called back before he left to go back to the Monetary room.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Professor Aizawa Theme]
Sora got to his class on time and when asked by his friends what took him, he just said that the principal wanted his help with something later and that he agreed to help. Once that was settled, Homeroom came and went. As did the rest of the normal school classes. However once the Hero Course was up, instead of All Might coming to teach them today, it was once again Aizawa stepping into the class, which confused the students a slight bit.
"Once again, All Might is running late, so until he shows up, I'll fill in for him." The 1-A Homeroom teacher explained. "Go change into the gym uniform and meet up outside the bus parking lot."
Tenya raised his hand and asked "Are we going off campus for today's lesson, Mr. Aizawa?"
"We'll be going back to U.S.J. again, and before you ask. No. All Might isn't going to be surprising you again with a fake Villain attack." Aizawa stated.
While that was a slight relief for the 1-A students, they were still slightly curious as to why the Number 1 Hero wasn't here to teach them. Nevertheless, the class did as they were told and went to the locker rooms to change into their gym uniforms. Sora luckily didn't have to worry about guarding a peep hole from Minoru, as it was already covered on the Girl's side for today. Hopefully the hole itself gets filled in soon, but for now, there won't be any perverted peeping today.
The ride to the U.S.J. wasn't very eventful. The only thing that was talked about on the way to the location was what All Might might have been or what he currently could be doing. Many guesses were thrown around, from stopping a bank robbery to halting a drug deal, basically anything heroic that needed to be done.
[Silence]
Once the class arrived at their destination, they were greeted once again by Thirteen and led inside the facility. Then the two explained what they were going to be doing today as they walked into the Ruins Zone. "Today, we're going to be going over standard escape procedure while inside an unstable building." Aizawa informed the class. "Namely, using a fire escape chute inside said unstable building."
"While most Heroes can use their quirks to escape some tricky situations, there still are moments where your quirk might be a detriment, and if you can't use it to escape, then you'll need to remember how to get out of an area the normal way." Thirteen explained.
The class with Thirteen walked into one of the damaged buildings that still had a stable fire escape chute, and went up to the level where the chute was at. It was slightly angled diagonally due to the building being tilted, but it was still stable and functional enough for this review. "The boys will go first, then the girls after them. Anyone who remembers how to properly go down one of these can go first to show the class how it's done." Aizawa explained from the ground level at the exit to the chute.
[Play KH2.5 Remix OST Sinister Sundown]
Iida was the first one to go, and as the class rep, he felt obliged to verbally exclaim each step to the process. Though most people already knew how to do it, it was helpful for Sora and the few others who actually didn't know or forgot how. But the simple term was keep your body straight, don't wiggle and stay calm.
The order of people after that was as followed.
Katsuki Bakugo
Yuga Aoyama
Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari
Mezo Shoji
Shoto Todoroki
Rikido Sato
Mashirao Ojiro
Minoru Mineta
Koji Koda
Fumikage Tokoyami
Ejiro Kirishima
Once Ejiro was out of the chute, Aizawa said "Next, Midoriya."
"Okay." Izuku replied, sounding a bit nervous.
"Good luck Deku." Ochako encouraged her friend.
The green haired boy's face started to turn a few shades of red as he responded with "Mhm." Then he went down the chute.
Once the boy was out of the chute, Sora went next. Following what everyone else did, he safely and easily took the chute down to the ground level. Once he was out, he heard Aizawa say "Great, boys are done. Girls next. Come on down Yaoyorozu."
"Yes sir." Momo replied, going feet first into the chute.
Minoru was near the exit of the chute, staring at it with the clear intent of seeing the class deputy pop out of it. Sora didn't bother to stop the perv, because since they were all in the gym uniform, there wasn't going to be anything to see. Once the girl came through the chute Mineta sighed.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Dogimagi]
"What's wrong Mineta?" Izuku asked, oblivious to the situation.
The purple haired boy sighed again and then said "C'mon man. Girls coming down slides? That should mean upskirt views! But everyone's in these dumb gym uniforms...I mean, I knew we would be, but still! No justice in this world if a guy can't look up a skirt or two!"
Tsuyu, who just popped out of the chute, commented "Let us know when you grow up, Mineta." Which earned a chuckle from Sora and a few others.
"She's quite right Mineta." Tenya stated. "I fail to see how flipped skirts would improve our training. This athletic wear is geared towards mobility making it the logical choice for an evacuation exercise."
"Uh...I don't think you're getting the..." Sora started to speak before Iida continued again.
"No, wait now!" The class rep reevaluated. "In any genuine evacuation, I suspect we would in fact, witness a number of women in skirts. I see...adding skirts would add a dash of realism!"
Sora sighed and face palmed at his friend's literal way of thinking. "Tenya...no." was all he could say.
"I don't think that's how it works Iida." Izuku pitched in, looking a bit entertained by that interaction.
Then out of seemingly nowhere came Katsuki, who said "Wipe that dumb grin off that sorry excuse for a face, Deku."
"Really Kachann..." Was Midoriya's reply.
"You seem more annoyed than usual today, Short Fuse." Sora.
"Call me that again and I'll kick your ass for real, Toy Sword." Bakugo rebutted before complaining that "Evac training is the pits is all."
"How can you say that?" Tenya questioned. "Any Hero worth his salt must be ready to prioritize the rescue at any time! Learning how to utilize life saving tools such as this one is key, making this a wholly worthwhile lesson!"
"Like I care." Katsuki retorted. "We all got our strengths. Let someone else handle the rescues while I go kick some Villain ass."
"Do you truly hope to become a Hero someday?" Iida challenged Bakugo's reasoning.
"Take it easy Iida." Izuku came in the middle to try and break up the argument.
"He's not wrong about people having different strengths." Shoto stated, now adding himself into this conversation.
"You think so, Todoroki?" Midoriya wondered out loud.
"I mean, it's hard to picture Bakugo saving anyone." The ice user commented, which earned another chuckle from Sora.
"TRY SAYING THAT AGAIN!" Katsuki roared out.
"No doubt he'd probably hurt them even worse." Denki commented.
Bakugo turned towards Kaminari and proposed "How about I make you my first 'rescue' then!"
While this was happening, the rest of the Girls were finished with using the fire chute and everyone had successfully used it at least once.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Analysis]
Aizawa then spoke up to the boys' banter. "Have you all forgotten why you're here?" The students all stopped talking and paid attention to their homeroom teacher as he continued to speak. "Different strengths or not, excuses like that won't cut it once you're on the scene. Pro Heroes willingly do whatever they can to help. When the police and rescue teams can't make it in time, it's up to you to point evacuees towards safety."
"Isn't it faster to save them for real, instead of just guiding them or whatever?" Katsuki questioned.
Yaoyorozu then spoke up in Aizawa's place and said "I think Mr. Aizawa is referring to mass evacuations, correct?"
"Exactly." Aizawa confirmed. "Saving one or two people is one thing, but these rescue tools are invaluable when dealing with a larger group. You don't want to find yourselves lacking the knowledge on how to use them when the time comes, which is why their basic application is part of our curriculum. Do you understand, Bakugo?"
Katsuki sighed and said "Sure."
Then Sora heard Izuku begin to once again mutter to himself. "Of course. And I bet we could even combine these rescue tools with our quirks in order to deal with mass evacuations. Like Uraraka's ability to make things float or Sero's tape, even Mineta's sticky balls could be useful. A professional Hero should be able to come up with all sorts of clever combinations on the fly."
"Anyhoo." Aizawa spoke up once more. "Next up is..."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I've come]
"I AM HERE FROM THE SKY!" Shouted a very prominent and all too familiar voice. The students look up to see none other than All Might himself, jumping out of a helicopter and landing right in front of the students, which needless to say, made some of the classmates fanboy and fangirl over his presence. "Sorry I'm late everyone!" The Hero apologized. "I was on my way when, wouldn't you know it? A pesky Villain turned up, just begging to be dealt with!"
"Unbelievable." Aizawa spoke up for the umpteenth time. "This was supposed to be your class to teach."
"I saw the news online during lunch!" Midoriya exclaimed. "You really caught a bank robber?"
"Indeed." All Might answered. "But what hasn't made the news yet is that another ne'er do well was holed up inside the back!"
"T-Too awesome All Might!" was all Izuku could say to that.
"Young Midoriya, praise is always appreciated, but let's shelve it for now." All Might recommended. "We wouldn't want to keep the chopper waiting, would we?"
"Wait." Sora then spoke up. "The helicopter isn't just for show?"
"Young Sora, there's no emergency. And I'd never use it just to make a grand entrance! No! The helicopter is part of your rescue training! Prepare yourselves!" All Might announced.
"T-The Hero Course sure is something else." Midoriya barely managed to utter out. He was so excited that he could barely even speak now.
"You're not wrong there, Izuku." Sora agreed with his friend as the class walked towards the helicopter, ready for their next set of rescue training.
Now with All Might there, the training became much more lively and strangely, yet admittedly exiting. The students used the helicopter in the mountain zone to simulate rescuing someone trapped near the peak of a snow capped mountain. Everyone took turns being the Heroes and the Civilians and many did well.
The last thing they did for the day was simulate rescuing people who were drowning, which was easy for Sora, Asui, and anyone else who knew how to do CPR properly. Anyone who either didn't know it or were doing it wrong were quickly taught how to correctly do it, without running the risk of crushing a person's ribs or lungs.
[Silence]
After the training was finished and everyone was back in their school uniforms, the students were taking their seats back at the classroom. While Sora was walking towards his seat he heard some small chatter.
"If I ever drown, I want to get CPR from a chick." Minoru commented. "Hot, heavy, and deep. Enough to take my breath away."
"Wouldn't that defeat the point?" Denki questioned his classmate.
Sora sighed, and then heard Fumikage add his two cents. "Truly, an embodiment of desires."
"Unfortunately so." Sora muttered before he sat back on his chair.
Once everyone was seated, Aizawa addressed the class. "Good work today. Moving right along, we'll be having parents day next week."
It was quiet for a few seconds before Ejiro spoke up. "Even the Hero Course has gotta do stuff like that?"
"Make sure your parents or guardians see this." Aizawa instructed. "And for homework, you'll be writing them letters of appreciation."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST An Abdominal Investigation]
Silence filled the room for a few seconds, then most of the class ended up laughing or having a very confused expression. Only three people weren't doing either one of those. Tenya was in his own thoughts, trying to deduce what this homework was going to teach them. Todoroki was silent, for obvious reasons aside from being the brooding type. And the third person was Sora, who had his own reasons to be silent.
Amidst the laughter and confusion Kaminari spoke up. "Hang on. Hang on. Wha...What are we, kids?" Some of the students agreed with that comment.
"Have I ever been one to joke?" Aizawa reminded his class, which caused them to quiet down and realize that this was in fact, serious. The homeroom teacher then continued speaking. "During the class, you will each read your letters aloud to your parents."
Now most of the class couldn't hide their discomfort. "For real? That's ridiculous!" Katsuki yelled out.
"Talk about embarrassing." Toru commented.
Iida then stood up, swinging his arms in that robot fashion he does all the time and yelling louder than everyone else. "EVERYONE QUIET DOWN! QUIET! QUIET!"
"You're louder than everyone else Iida." Tsu told him.
"Oh." Tenya realized. "Apologies. However, surely you understand why we are all so vexed Mr. Aizawa. Parents Day implies an ordinary class that our parents or guardians come to observe. So I can't understand why we would instead be reading letters of appreciation. Shouldn't they bear witness to an activity more befitting the Hero Course?"
[Silence]
"Nothing would be a better fit for the Hero Course." Aizawa stated.
"What do you mean by that Mr. Aizawa?" Asui asked.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I'll become a Hero]
"As aspiring Heroes, you're all bound to receive thanks and appreciation from those you save. Which is why it's essential to consider just what that entails." Aizawa explained. "Well, not that you all becoming Pros is necessarily set in stone."
After a few seconds of the class thinking about it, Iida spoke up once more. "How true." He agreed. "This exercise will confirm whether or not we have the correct frame of mind to be Heroes, who must remain modest, humble, and always grateful! That makes perfect sense!"
"You didn't take much convincing." Ochako commented whilst giggling.
After that was said, it seemed like a majority of the class were now a bit more on board with the idea. At the very least, they understood the reasoning as to why they were doing this. Some people were still uncomfortable, but it wasn't really up for debate. There's no changing Mr. Aizawa's mind when he's teaching the class.
"Before recitations though, we'll give them a brief tour of the campus and a practical demo." Aizawa informed the class.
"Shouldn't that be the main event?" Denki asked out loud.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Mystery]
While Aizawa was answering that question, Sora was in his own thoughts. This part of his life was a bit of a sensitive topic for him. Thanks to Heartless, Sora can be considered an orphan. While this didn't seem like something that would bother him, it's because he never actually had time to cope with that fact. He was always busy fighting Heartless, Nobodies, Nightmares, The Organization, basically anything that wanted to hurt him or his friends. Thanks to the constant action, barely any rest in between, and the fact that he was surrounded by people who cared about his happiness, the boy never thought about how his biological family was taken from him.
But now that this event was happening, those thoughts would be brought to the forefront of his mind for the entire week. He had to write a letter of appreciation to Inko, who he's only known for a few months, he has to keep a smile on his face while dealing with what is most likely his biggest unspoken issue, and he has to make sure that if he does have to talk about...that, then he can't blow his cover. This event was probably going to be the most difficult thing he's dealt with since he's been stranded.
[Silence]
Class was dismissed shortly afterwards and now school was over. Sora was walking with Izuku, Tenya and Shoto towards the entrance of school, mainly because they wondered if he wanted to walk with them. He told them that he'd be staying for training, but didn't mind walking with them until they left the school grounds.
Whilst the four were walking, Midoriya said "Parents Day, huh. And what do we do about these letters?"
"No choice but to write them." Todoroki replied.
"I had my doubts at first." Iida stated. "But now it seems like a fantastic idea. Naturally we feel grateful to our families for all they do, but rarely do we get a chance to express that in words. I wonder if there's a page limit? Too short, and I'm afraid I won't be able to fit all my feelings into the letter."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Unwind]
"Wow, Iida. You think you'll be writing that much?" Izuku asked. "I can't even imagine how to start. I mean I'm always leaving comments on Heroes' websites, but an actual letter is a different story."
"Is that so?" Tenya responded. "I find myself writing thank you cards now and then."
"For what?" Midoriya wondered.
"When I help senior citizens cross the street, for instance, they sometimes send me gifts in the mail." Iida explained. "My parents raised me to always reply with a thank you card on such occasions."
"That's kind of amazing actually!" Izuku praised.
"You think so?" Tenya pondered. "It seems perfectly ordinary."
The class rep looked at Todoroki to see if his classmate could back his claims, but the Ice user said "No. I can't say I've ever done that."
"Oh. I see..." The engine legged boy slumped down a bit.
"B-But that's not a bad thing at all!" Midoriya commented, trying to lighten his friend's mood. "It's good experience even. Especially for an assignment like this."
"Yes! Of course!" Iida responded. "A letter is the perfect way to truly make one's feelings known. Right Sora?"
[Silence]
"...right." was all Sora could say.
That caught the attention of the three boys and they all looked at their friend. "Uh...hey, Sora. Are you alright?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, just...I..." The Keyblade wielder was struggling to speak. And the way he spoke sounded like he wasn't very comfortable talking about this subject.
Each boy had a different reaction to this. Izuku was a bit confused. Sora was always so positive around him, and mentioning his family and friends didn't really bother the Keyblade wielder all too much. Sure, this would probably be something awkward for Sora, since he only knew Inko for a few months, but it shouldn't be too crazy. Right?
Shoto recognized the very slight pain that came out of Sora's voice when he was talking. He didn't know too much about his spiky brown haired friend, but thanks to his own personal experiences, he understood that this subject was most likely very sensitive for Sora to talk about and this conversation was taking Sora out of his comfort zone.
Tenya was at first confused, but then he remembered something that Sora had told both him and Uraraka, back before the Sports Festival. He remembered how Sora stated that shortly after he got his quirk, the Heartless destroyed his home. He also remembered how Sora specifically said that everyone he knew was 'gone' and that only two of his friends were kidnapped by the creatures. If Iida was interpreting this correctly, then Sora's parents would also be 'gone'.
Now understanding why Sora was so uncomfortable, Tenya decided to change the subject. "Oh! I just remembered something. How silly of me to forget!"
"Forget what?" Midoriya wondered, now paying attention to Iida.
[Play KH Re:Chain of memories OST March-A-Long]
Tenya pulled out an envelope and presented it to the three. "I received these theme park tickets from Native for the four of us."
"Who's Native?" Todoroki asked.
"The Hero who was on the scene when we fought Stain! And one of the Pro's that Sora saved from dying on the street after he and the Hero Killer fought!" Izuku answered. "I wonder why though."
"As a means of thanking us I suspect." Tenya said as he pulled out four tickets from the envelope.
"Heh. One for each of us?" Sora guessed, acting much more like himself now.
"It would seem to be the case." Iida replied, happy to see his friend back to normal. "However, these are only good through next week. Are you all available on Sunday?"
"Sunday? Ack! I can't make it!" Izuku replied.
"Other plans I assume?" Tenya guessed.
"There's a Hero exhibit at the Culture Hall!" Midoriya explained. "A can't miss event covering everything from the dawn of Heroes period! The stuff on display usually isn't available to the public, and everyone who attends gets a deluxe photo collection with detailed profiles of those early Heroes!"
"I forgot you were doing that, Izuku." Sora commented.
"You sure are fond of Heroes, Midoriya." Iida noted.
"I'm really sorry!" Izuku apologized.
"I can't do Sunday either." Shoto stated. "Need to visit my mom. Sorry."
Tenya slightly lowered his head and said "I see." Then he snapped back to his usual self once more. "Unfortunate yet unavoidable. Do you have plans on Sunday as well, Sora?"
"I'm free on Sunday." Sora said. "I wasn't really interested in the Hero exhibit that Izuku wanted to go to, so this gives me something to do while he's doing his thing."
"Well that's very fortunate." Iida happily replied. "However I don't want to let these other two tickets go to waste."
"We can invite two of our classmates to come with us." Sora suggested.
"An excellent idea!" Tenya agreed.
The boys now reached the entrance and then Sora then waved the three off before going back into U.A. He had a training session scheduled today after all.
[Silence]
A few moments later, Sora was now standing in the middle of Ground Beta with his Hero Costume on. He also had an earpiece on and a few camera drones were observing the area while multiple 1, 2, and 3 pointer robots were being set up in the area. Nezu who was in the Monetary Room spoke through his ear piece, asking the boy "Are you ready to go?"
Inside the Monetary Room with the principal were Toshinori, Aizawa, Present Mic, Midnight, Snipe, Ectoplasm, Cementoss, Hound Dog, Power Roller, Vlad King, Recovery Girl, and Moogle. The staff were curious about what was going to happen during Sora's self requested training session, and when Nezu told them what Sora was planning to test, they stayed to watch out of both curiosity and necessity. If they were gonna help keep Sora's cover, then they were gonna need to know what he can do in order to help come up with a reason as to how he can do what he does, but they also wanted to see what a Keyblade wielder in training could do.
"Yep." Sora told Nezu. "Start it up whenever."
[Play KH3 OST Thermosphere]
Nezu spoke up once more. "Ok then. Beginning the test in Three." Sora summoned Two Become One in his hands. "Two." The boy got into his signature battle stance. "One." The Keyblade wielder waited for the go ahead. "Start."
Multiple robots began to close in on Sora's location, and the boy simply waited for them to come to him. Once the bots were right where he was, he began his attack. One of the robots swung their arms to try and hit Sora, but he ducked under and sliced the arm off, before stabbing the bot in the center of its body, deactivating it.
A second bot attempted to charge Sora, but he rolled out of it's way when it charged and then the boy turned his attention to a third bot attempting to slam it's fist into Sora, only for the boy to dodge and slash the robot to bits. The bot from before attempted to charge Sora again, but the Keyblade wielder saw it coming and then timed his moment. Once the bot was right in front of him, Sora slashed at its lower body, forcing it to trip and tumble until it hit its face on the floor and broke apart.
A pair of robots tried to catch Sora in a pincer attack from opposite directions, but Sora saw them both coming and once they got close, he jumped and let the two slam into each other before he dropped back down and dispatched them. Another Robot came from behind and managed to wrap its arms around Sora, holding the boy in place for another robot to come in and swing it's arm towards his face. The boy barely managed to move his head out of the way and the arm crashed into the face of the bot holding him, causing it to let go. Once Sora hit the ground, he jumped and drop kicked the bot behind him, while holding his Keyblade in the opposite direction to literally stab the other robot through the shoulder and cut off its arm. The now one armed bot tried to attack with it's other arm, but Sora soon cut that one off, then kicked it on it's back.
Sora was already feeling energy get stockpiled in the blade and knew that any moment, he would be able to commence a Formchange with Two Become One. Now feeling a bit anxious as to what it will be, he went after the nearest robot and quickly dispatched it, before a few more came after him.
Back in the Monetary Hall, the staff were admittedly impressed with how versatile the boy was with this newly reacquired Keyblade of his. Some were also silently anticipating what new powers their Hero Course student would have, while others were simply waiting for the Formchange to happen, or if it even would at all.
Back in Ground Beta, Sora took out another four robots and he now felt a hefty amount of energy stockpiled in Two Become One. The boy was about to try the Formchange, but was almost grabbed by a bot charging from behind. The boy swiftly dodged and then moved himself out of the range of most of the robots before letting the energy flow into himself. Time to see what Two Become One will do.
[Silence]
Suddenly, there were clicking and snapping sounds coming from Two Become One before it suddenly began to shake in Sora's hands. The boy then realized that this wasn't going to be just a Formchange, but a full on Keyblade Transformation. He threw Two Become One directly up into the air and then watched as the silver blade and other silver pieces detached themselves from the black pieces. Then the silver pieces began to join together and form something while the black pieces did the exact same thing. Before Sora could see what they turned into however, he suddenly felt a surge of energy explode from him as he bursted into a bright light.
[Play KH3 OST Thermosphere Afterimage]
When the light subsided, Sora's clothes were once again changed, but this time, they looked very familiar and a bit nostalgic to the boy. The colors on his clothes were Bright Red, with black highlights. Fleurs-de-lis were on his sleeves and pant legs, and he had red sparks emitting from his body. The boy remembered this form very well.
Suddenly two objects pierced the ground in front of him and when Sora looked at them, he saw that they were a single silver sword and single black sword that both looked exactly like the Samurai Nobody's blades in design. The Keyblade wielder picked up the blades and brandished his new weapons. It was clear to him now. Two Become One's Keyblade Transformation is a set of dual blades and he also gains the ability to tap into Valor Form once more.
In the Monetary Room, the staff were once again surprised with Sora. While yes, they did hear about how some of Sora's Keyblades could transform into different weapons, they had yet to actually see such a thing. And now they have, it is quite a sight to behold. They could only wonder how proficient the boy was with two blades compared to one.
"Oh hohohohohohoho." Sora uttered out of his mouth. "Oh, how this brings back some memories." The Keyblade wielder twirled his weapons around until he got into his Valor Form battle stance, saying. "I'll call this, Dual Blades, Valor!" Now it was time for a test run, to see if he's still got the moves.
He saw a group of robots coming towards him and Sora decided to meet them head on, running towards them and realizing that his running speed had increased greatly. The boy ran towards the group of bots and began to show off his skills with two swords by cutting up the first two bots easily, then spinning himself around with the blades extended out in order to take out the rest of the bots.
Sora then saw another robot attempt to charge him and he decided to jump up to get out of the way. Once he jumped, he realized that his jumping height had also greatly increased. He could probably jump as high as Tsuyu now in this form if he wanted to. Once he began to fall he adjusted himself and then easily landed on top of the robot that charged at him, and kicked it in the head before he hopped off and took it out.
During this time, Sora realized that he could feel even more energy stockpiling in him, so if he was quick enough, then he might discover a second level to this form. He looked and found another group of robots looking to pick a fight and he charged towards them. The bots saw him coming and got ready to fight, but when Sora got there they were no match for his blazing speed and near endless amounts of slashes.
Another group of bots were heading Sora's way, so the boy decided to try something. He began tapping into his focus energy, but when he tried to use it, he found out that he couldn't, which actually startled him for a moment. Before he could try again, the bots got to him and attacked, so Sora parried and countered accordingly before trying to use his focus on the last bot in this group, only to realize that he can't.
Sora then took out the robot and then saw yet another group of robots coming towards him. He tried one more time to use his focus, but no dice. It was official, while in this form, he couldn't use focus based moves like flowmotion or shotlocks, so it all depended on his physical skills, just like Valor Form back in the day.
The next group of bots caught up to him, but Sora had just realized that he had enough energy built up to go to the next level, so without hesitation, he let the energy built up inside surge and then light enveloped him once more.
[Silence]
30 seconds prior to Sora's second transformation, the staff were discussing what they were seeing in the Monetary room. "Well, he's definitely proficient with two blades." Cementoss commented.
"Never seen a form quite like his though." Snipe pointed out. "And there's quite a few sword wielding Pros."
"Remember, he's from another world." Ectoplasm reminded them. "This might be a form taught where he was from."
"Or, he's just self taught, since he said he was almost always fighting the Heartless." Vlad King suggested.
"Regardless of how he learned to fight with two weapons, he's competent and likely experienced enough to actually do it." Aizawa stated.
"Very true." Nezu agreed. "He seems to be familiar with this, most likely reviewing his technique, rather than experimenting with this power."
"The way he's acting definitely shows he's already been acquainted with this power." Hound Dog noted. "But he still seems surprised. He probably hasn't been able to do this in a while."
"Well if this was what he did back in the day, he clearly had a sense of flair and style." Present Mic added. "Look at him! He's rocking that red and black pattern!"
"Such energy. Such enthusiasm. Ahh~" Midnight moaned. "Such a shame that he's not from this world. He's the personification of the youthful image."
"Sora wasn't lying when he said he was growing stronger." Yagi thought to himself.
Everyone was expecting this to be the end, but then they watched as Sora's body enveloped in light once more.
[Play KH3 OST Zero Hour -The Rescue-]
In Ground Beta the light subsided from Sora and he could see and feel the differences. The red colors on his clothes changed into a bright yellow, the symbols on his clothes changed to multiple crosses, and he now had yellow sparks emitting from his right hand and blade, while the other blade was hovering around his left hand, both now glowing gold. He upgraded from Valor to Master. Sora switched stances and said "Oh yeah! Dual Blades Master!"
More robots were at his positions and he jumped into the air again, his jumping height was unfortunately back to normal, but the reason he jumped was because he knew that this form was better suited for the air. He swung the sword in his right hand like normal to attack, but every time he swung his left the blade hovering around him would now twirl and slash on its own, based on how Sora moved his left arm and hand.
Thanks to Sora already being familiar with this, he easily adapted to this fighting style and shredded the bots around him. There was a very large group of robots coming for him in multiple directions now, so the boy figured that now might be the best time to test his magic. A few robots charged directly towards his front side, and he cartwheeled off of his floating blade to the side, pointing his right blade forward as four thunder spells struck the bots that tried to charge him.
More bots were incoming and Sora decided to literally come in hot, casting a fire spell around himself and letting five large spheres of flames briefly orbit him and blast away any robot that was too close to the fire. He was now in the middle of the group of bots and a few tried to tackle him from multiple directions, but Sore jumped up and then when he saw a few more bots try to get him in the air, he twirled his body incredibly fast and propelled himself even further up, executing an aeriel dodge.
Once the bots smashed into each other, and he was close enough towards the ground, he casted blizzard and seven large ice blasts went forward in a spread shot fashion, freezing multiple robots in place. Now that they were stuck, Sora decided to try something to finish this group before another group of bots had the chance to get there. He got in the air again and then held his left hand in the air and twirling his body, briefly making himself a small cyclone that sucked in the frozen and unfrozen bots around him, before he eventually spreads his arms outwards and slashes all the bots away from him, letting them scatter and hit the floor and sides of the buildings.
Sora saw a few more bots come after him and before he could get in the air, they jumped to try and counter him, but the Keyblade wielder had other plans. As the robots descended upon him from a few directions, he spun his left blade around himself while he raised his right blade and formed a large barrier around himself, making the bots hit that instead of him. Once physical contact was made, the barrier rebounded their attacks back to them and the bots went flying.
Sora saw more bots coming and decided to test if he could use his Focus energy, but when he tried, he once again couldn't. So going into these forms specifically will render him unable to use Focus, period. The boy then heard Nezu over his earpiece. "You seem to be perplexed about something Sora."
"For some reason, I can't use my Focus related abilities and attacks." Sora explained as he continued to fight off the bots coming after him.
"Well, considering the amount of power you're using, perhaps these forms require more energy to sustain, and so you can't use your Focus related abilities without reverting to normal." Nezu surmised.
"Maybe. So should I power down and then try?" Sora asked as he continued fighting.
"Why not see if you can go further before you revert?" Nezu suggested.
"You mean like, see I can go a third level?" The boy said as he continued to fight.
"Have you ever done so before?" Nezu questioned.
"Not really, but I do feel some more energy stockpiling inside me." Sora noted as he continued to take out the robots around him. "Maybe with this blade, I can do it."
"Well then, I'd say try it." Nezu stated. "Besides. You know our school motto."
Sora smiled as he felt that he might have enough power stockpiled to surge once more. He did so and then said the school montra with Nezu "GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!" Light enveloped him once more.
[Play KH3 OST Zero Hour -The Chase-]
The light around Sora eventually dimmed down and Sora once again saw and felt the differences with him. His clothes changed from yellow to silver and his clothes had a silver aura pulsing from them. Multiple wind shaped runes replaced the crosses on his sleeves and pant legs. Two small orbs of light orbited around him as he floated in the air and his two swords hovered behind him. He knows this form all too well as he said. "Dual Blades Final. That's what this is gonna be called."
Multiple robots came from all directions and Sora just hovered himself towards the closest set, and with every stroke of his hands, the dual blades spun, twirled and thrusted in complete sync. The way he fought made him look like a kind of angel, especially since whenever Sora hovered towards his foes, the blades would hover around his back like a pair of small wings. His grace and elegance with the two swords showed that he had complete control of everything as he literally shredded almost all of the robots around him.
Whenever the two swords conjoined with each other, the attacks were devastating. They would lock together and spin so fast that Sora basically had a rotating saw blade in front of him. They could thrust into each other and create sparks of electricity with each collision.
Sora's ingenuity with his weapons also was worth noting, as one of his attacks when he was surrounded showed him having the two blades slash and orbit about him, before he then dashed towards one of the swords and used it to propel himself towards the other, then use the other sword to propel himself back to the first one in rapid succession until he pushed himself up and had the blades follow him.
Everyone in the Monetary Room was stunned with Sora's skills in this form, a few couldn't even speak from the sheer spectacle they were witnessing. Moogle was the first to speak. "Looks like he can access wind magic again, Kupo. At the very least in this form and the previous one, Kupo. I might actually have a paper that can instruct him, but I'll look for it afterwards, cause I don't want to miss this, Kupo."
"Agreed." Nezu said. "Compared to the other two forms before this one, his versatility has increased tenfold."
"The only issue is that he has to build up a significant amount of energy from the other two forms before he can even get into this one, meaning that he'll only reach this level of power in a prolonged fight against either someone his equal, or against multiple waves of enemies coming at him in rapid succession." Aizawa pointed out.
"Even with that drawback, this form more than makes up for it in almost every physical category." Toshinori stated. "And we haven't even seen him cast any of his spells yet."
"Considering how powerful they were with that previous form, this might just make his magic all around better than most Pros with elemental quirks similar to his spells." Ectoplasm estimated, causing a good portion of the staff to slightly shudder.
Back at Ground Beta, as if on cue, more robots showed up and Sora began testing his magic once more. When they were surrounding him, he summoned multiple casts of Fire around himself and looked like a tornado of flames as he burnt the robots around him. When they were in a straight light charging him, he casted Blizzard and the blades shot multiple blasts of ice in front of him rapidly, before firing two at once to finish the cast and freeze any bots in front of him. When the robots were huddled up in groups around him, Sora casted Thunder and watched as eight bolts blasted around him and electrified the bots around him.
Any that managed to somehow survive that show of magic had gotten close to Sora and tried to strike him, but were once again stopped by a large barrier that he created, however the dual blades instead orbited around the barrier, damaging anything that was unfortunate enough to be too close to them. The attacks that struck the barrier were repelled the same way as the master form barrier, but this added level of offence from the dual blades made this block technically better than the one before.
Sora then realized that there weren't many bots left and decided to try one more time to use Focus abilities, but he still could not. Deciding to save them for these last few dozen bots, he flips and locks the blade under him to propel himself up high enough to reach the top of a small building. When he was there, he took a deep breath, powered down back to normal and watched as the two blades became one once more.
[Silence]
"Ok. So that's as far as I can go with the Keyblade Transformation and Formchanges with Two Become One, but now I need to make sure that I can still at least use Shotlocks with this. I already know I can use Flowmotion with it, but I never tested any focus based attacks." Sora said to Nezu.
"Well, since you powered down and there are a few stragglers left, you can test to see if you can use those Focus attacks of yours now." Nezu stated.
"Thanks." Sora replied before looking around and finding a single bot by itself. Once he was close enough, he very slightly charged his focus energy and when he went to use it, light enveloped him once more.
[Play KH3 OST Star Explorer]
The light subsided and the color of Sora's clothes were the exact same as his old outfit from Destiny Islands, and he then saw Two Become One slightly glow orange, Sora had a feeling he knew what to do, and he threw the blade forward. It came back to him after hitting the robot and after another three throws and returns, Sora yells out "Strike Raid!" before throwing the blade one last time and letting it destroy the robot. He then involuntarily reverted to base when it was over.
A small group of robots ended up rounding a corner, taking the time he needed to he charged even more focus energy and then went Limit Form once again, this time throwing the blade once and watching it ricochet off of the bots and onto the nearby walls and back to the bots and then to the floor and then back to the bots again repeatedly until they were taken out. Sora then resummoned Two Become One and called this "Judgement."
The last of the robots came towards Sora and then he decided to fully charge his Focus and see what would happen. When he did, light erupted from him once more and his clothes changed to a bright blue and black color pattern with a blue flame design on his sleeves and pant legs. Blue particles sparkled by his feet as he slid on the ground and circled the bots, shooting them with multiple bursts of blue energy bolts from his blade, pelting the bots enough to take them out. After that was done, he once again involuntarily reverted back to normal and he dubbed this shotlock "Wisdom Barrage."
[Silence]
Now the training session was over, and as Sora was leaving Ground Beta, the staff in the Monetary Room were having a discussion about what they just saw.
"It's no question that Sora has gotten significantly stronger." Yagi said.
"And this ain't even his full potential?" Present Mic questioned. "Just how powerful are these Keyblade wielders?"
"Powerful enough to protect multiple worlds from a literal endless threat." Aizawa reminded Mic of Sora's job.
"With power like that, he certainly lives up to that job description." Vlad King commented.
"Let's also be thankful that Sora can hold himself back from seriously injuring or killing someone when he fights actual people." Cementoss added.
"Definitely." Snipe agreed.
"The way he moved and attacked changed drastically with each form he took." Ectoplasm stated.
"He's clearly used these forms before." Power Loader surmised. "This seemed to be more him reacquainting himself with the forms."
"He still seemed surprised at his Keyblade transforming though." Nezu noted. "Perhaps he used to be able to summon a second blade whilst in these forms, but now since he cannot do so right now, the weapon compensated for that by splitting itself and transforming into two blades."
Sora spoke from the earpiece to the staff. "Actually, those were my first ever achieved forms. I called them Drive Forms back then, and the first three you guys saw usually gave me the power to summon two Keyblades, regardless of how strong or weak I was."
"Then what exactly happened that caused you to be unable to summon another blade this time?" The principal asked.
"Well...this is gonna sound stupid, but it's actually because my Drive Forms were linked to a set of clothes I used to wear." Sora replied.
[Play KH3 OST Sora meets Mike and Sully -cutscene-]
"...Excuse me?" Most of the staff said in unison.
"I told you it was going to sound stupid." Sora reminded them.
"Those old forms were linked to your old battle wear?" Aizawa repeated.
"Yes, and it looks like with these clothes, they're all linked to Two Become One, which can now transform." Sora summarized.
"You have some of the weirdest and gimmickiest abilities ever." Present Mic stated.
"Believe me. I know." Sora agreed.
"Ahhh!~" Midnight moaned again. "Why must you turn me on so easily?"
"Uh...I'm sorry?" Sora apologized, understandably weirded out by that comment.
"I think that concludes your experimenting for the day." Nezu took over. "Get yourself out of costume, back into uniform, and then have a safe trip home."
"Got it." Sora replied, a little more eager to leave after hearing Midnight's last comment.
And here we go. This chapter was both fun, yet slightly scary to wright. I already had Two Become One's Keyblade Transformation Shotlocks and Formchanges being the Drive Forms set, but I am a bit uneasy about how you guys will feel about the gimmick of the blade and its forms. I'm not gonna change it, but it is probably the most complicated sword in Sora's arsenal. Aside from that, the first chapter of School Briefs is covered. At least everything I could include Sora in without forcing it. Sora meeting Rei and Fuyumi Todoroki when Shoto is conflicted about Parents Day doesn't sit right with me, especially since Sora himself is also pretty conflicted in his own right. Anyone who read Without Sora (which I will update eventually) already knows Sora's situation with his parents and if you didn't, then the implications in this chapter should be clear enough. So yeah. To anyone who never read or even heard of this MHA book series, Parents Day is the main plot of the First School Briefs book, with an amusement park chapter that I will write a few chapters later. Besides, the next chapter gets into Nezu's school project, that I'm pretty sure most of you know what it is by now, but to anyone who doesn't know, it'll still stay somewhat ambiguous until the start of the final exams ark. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this rather nostalgic chapter and until I decide to upload again. ;)